So the second time I spoke with my placement officer was at the beginning something of a comedy of errors. Its exactly like what happened when I talked to my recruiter for the first time – things were going well until he mentioned something about a DUI and I said WHAT?! – I don’t have a DUI!!!
He was apologetic and said – opps.. I guess your the OTHER person named..
Same thing different person this time with my placement officer – do I sense a trend here?
Once he realized that I wasn’t the other person he thought I was it was clear he had a couple things on his agenda to talk about.
One of them being that I am a blogger and that I enjoy the use of social media. He was concerned that I could write about something and cause offense in my placement country.
So for a while I was tempted to locked the blog down either totally or parts of it.
I have decided against locking the blog down totally but I am still considering locking certain posts.
However I am torn because I know that freedom of speech is something that is powerful and one should have that right protected no matter what.
Just look at the “Arab Spring,” and the power writers have in many countries where freedom of speech isn’t the norm. Individuals have ended up imprisoned and tortured for simply expressing their opinion.
Indeed – I won’t be one of those who ends up winning a Darwin award and being tortured- I have a strong sense of self preservation – however my natural inclination is not to censor myself or anyone else for that matter.
The second part of the phone call boiled down to him having to share that I may have to wait till 2012 to get an invitation and ship out if I was willing to do so.
I was also able to clarify somethings that through my long 20 month process had changed.
1. I am no longer nominated for Primary Teacher Training – I am now in placement for Youth Development.
2. The placement office would give me 2-3 months notice before I shipped out.
This allowed me to have a conversation with the executive director of my current Ameri Corps agency and see if she would be willing to keep me on to which she said YES!
*happy dance*
It was also good to know exactly what type of program I am being placed for as – I was originally nominated for Eastern Europe – Primary Teacher Training which is a totally different animal.
However two years of Ameri Corps service has changed the landscape of my resume dramatically – less teacher – more youth developer!
One thing that has been on my mind is how long am I willing to wait to volunteer with the Peace Corps after going through this so far 20 month process.
But that’s why I am studying for the GRE – so that if I don’t ship out by January 2012 – I will cut my losses and head to grad school.
Now its just wait and see.
American Muslimahs Musings 